Warning: This page contains spoilers for the July 21, 2025, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Mythological Places) for Monday, July 21, 2025 (Season 41, Game 226):
A 17th c. English translation of the “Aeneid” rhymes “My soul remains” & “perpetual pains” with this 2-word place
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Jeff Hague, a firefighter from Carmel, Indiana
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Anna Ciamporcero, a stay-at-home mom from Ridgefield, Connecticut
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Scott Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville, New Jersey (12-day total: $312,501)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
We enter the final week of Season 41 with a 12-time champion occupying the champion’s lectern: Scott Riccardi has picked up more than $300,000 and ended last week showing no signs of letting up. Certainly, though, Jeopardy! is a show where anything can happen—could today be the day where Anna Ciamporcero or Jeff Hague unseat the champion? It should also be noted that if Scott does happen to win out this week and get to 17 wins, the cutoff for the next Tournament of Champions very likely won’t be until December, much like the Season 41 tournament cutoff was December 6, 2024.
I should also note that there comes a time in every superchampion’s run where a small minority of the show’s viewers begin cheering against the champion and calling for a return to the days before “Sky’s The Limit” was introduced in 2003. It goes without saying that these fans are a small but vocal minority—ratings go up when a champion is on a long run, as more fans are invested and thus tune in to see how the champion is doing. In fact, traffic here at The Jeopardy! Fan—which has long been correlated with show ratings—is up significantly compared to normal.
Beginning next week, the show enters into its usual 6 weeks of encore presentations; the show will be rerunning the Tournament of Champions to begin with. It should also be noted that 46 weeks—230 episodes—is the longest season of any American game show, and that the show goes into encore presentations during this time of year because significantly fewer people watch television over the summer—vacations and outdoor times happen—and it’s more viable for the show to play the encore presentations.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What are Elysian Plains?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2025 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Elysium, perhaps better known as the Elysian Fields, was translated to “Elysian Plains” in the 17th-century translations of Virgil’s “Aeneid” in order to keep a rhyming scheme. Separated from the realm of Hades, it was initially populated with mortals related to the gods and other heroes, but it was later said that those chosen by the gods, or the most righteous of Greeks, could enter Elysium in order to live a blessed afterlife.
Honestly, I think Final Jeopardy clues that require contestants to know a specific lesser-used phrasing in order to fit a specific rhyme scheme (or otherwise) is much better suited for Masters-level play than regular play. This Final Jeopardy clue definitely should have been saved for a higher level than this, and if the show keeps on doing this, it will have a significant negative effect on betting strategy going forward, to the detriment of overall excitement.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, July 21, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Shakespearean Settings; People Working Out Some Issues; Women; Vegetarian Talk; Hit The Road; Switching Sports)
Scott got off to a slow start, but he picked things up by the commercial to take the lead. After 15 clues, the scores were Scott $4,000 Jeff $2,200 Anna $400.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Scott 6 correct 1 incorrect
Jeff 4 correct 1 incorrect
Anna 3 correct 2 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Jeff was just promoted to captain.
Anna had “Jeopardy” as one of her first words.
Scott fell asleep at his desk when doing biology homework in high school.
Jeff found the Daily Double, losing $2,000 to it. This meant Scott still lead after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Scott 10 correct 1 incorrect
Jeff 9 correct 2 incorrect
Anna 5 correct 4 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Scott $5,400
Jeff $2,200
Anna $400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: A Year-O With A Zero In It; Cities In Proximity; Nonfiction; Stand-Up Specialists; Lots Of Knots; Hey “Eu”!)
Scott found both Daily Doubles (not that Anna really did much to try to find them herself) and got them both correct en route to 20 correct in the round, bringing his Coryat score for the day over $30,000 on the final clue of the round.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Scott 30 correct 2 incorrect
Anna 11 correct 4 incorrect
Jeff 12 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 40 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Scott $35,400
Anna $4,800
Jeff $4,600
Applause for Scott, getting what I thought was a very difficult Final Jeopardy clue correct. It was a good thing, too, as he bet $15,000, picking up $50,400 today. He’ll go for win #14 tomorrow.
Tonight’s results:
Jeff $4,600 – $4,400 = $200 (What is ?)
Anna $4,800 – $1,800 = $3,000 (What is ?? Love you Dan + Pearl!)
Scott $35,400 + $15,000 = $50,400 (What is Elysian Plains?) (13-day total: $362,901)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) WOMEN $400 (clue #22)
Jeff 3400 -2000 (Scott 5000 Anna 200)
2) A YEAR-O WITH A ZERO IN IT $1200 (clue #2)
Scott 5800 +4000 (Anna 400 Jeff 2200)
3) NONFICTION $1600 (clue #9, $25200 left on board)
Scott 13800 +4000 (Anna 2000 Jeff 3800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 39
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Scott 3 4 5 3 4 5 3 3 4 5 2
Anna 4 3 5 2
Jeff 5 4 3 2 5 4 2*
DJ! Round:
Scott 3* 3 4 3 4*
Anna 1 1 3
Jeff 5
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Scott 3.63
Anna 2.71
Jeff 3.75
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 40 (0.18 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Scott $30,200 Coryat, 30 correct, 2 incorrect, 50.88% in first on buzzer (29/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Anna $4,800 Coryat, 11 correct, 4 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Jeff $6,600 Coryat, 12 correct, 3 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,600
Lach Trash: $5,200 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,200
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 2
Player Statistics:
Scott Riccardi, career statistics:
347 correct, 26 incorrect
19/19 on rebound attempts (on 55 rebound opportunities)
42.91% in first on buzzer (318/741)
17/23 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $43,000)
10/13 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $22,662
Anna Ciamporcero, career statistics:
11 correct, 5 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,800
Jeff Hague, career statistics:
12 correct, 4 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,600
Scott Riccardi, to win:
14 games: 74.480%
15: 55.473%
16: 41.316%
17: 30.772%
18: 22.919%
Avg. streak: 15.918 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- As per the rules of the show, when a response is already a question (i.e. “Why did the chicken cross the road?”), it does not need to be doubly phrased.
- Today’s runaway game means that no wagering suggestions will be posted.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
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I was like “got to be Elysium”, but “that doesn’t rhyme with ‘remains’ or ‘pains'”. Oh wait, “it’s got to be Elysian Fields, but that doesn’t rhyme with ‘remains’ or ‘pains’ either.”
I got as far as “plains”, but that was it. I also agree with your comments regarding difficulty of clues affecting bidding strategy In Final.
Yes, I also got to plains. I threw something out for the 1st part and was nowhere near right.
It’s interesting to note that as of this moment in time, Scott’s Jeopardy! winnings puts him just below the last superchamp from 13 or so months ago—Adriana Harmeyer!!!
…And, with tonight’s win, Scott passes Adrianna for 13th place. They swap places making her now 14th place.
Knew it was Greek Mythology and, having played the game Hades, knew it was a location from there but couldn’t pull the name.
Before reading the clue, I started thinking of places based on the category of Mythological Places. Places that came to mind were Camelot, Brigadoon, Atlantis, Mount Olympus, Valhalla, Garden of Eden to name a few. Weirdly, Spanish Plains came to mind even though it’s not mythological. Even so, it put the word “plains” in my mind. So, when I read the clue, somehow, my mind landed on Elysium and I just put “Plains” after it to get the correct response of “Elysium Plains” to rhyme with “remains” and “pains.” Kind of a roundabout way but it worked. That also shows the value of trying to think of possible responses based on the category before the clue is even revealed, something that I frequently try to do (also called blind guessing).
Robert, did you think they would have accepted “Elysium Plains” instead of “Elysian Plains” or was that a typo after having mentioned Elysium? Or maybe “it worked” was just implying you’d gone on to change to “Elysian Plains”?
I started with a “place” that would rhyme with remains and pains, giving me plains and then thought of places that might be at least somewhat like purgatory because of “soul remains” & “perpetual pains” (and was presumably not Hell) and came up with Elysian Plains.
No, not a typo, Lisa. They would have had to accept Elysium Plains as they are both alternative names for the Elysian Fields, the concept in Greek mythology referring to a paradise within the Underworld where the blessed souls of heroes and virtuous individuals reside. The terms are interchangeable and refer to the same idyllic location. I don’t see how they could not have accepted it since it is a correct response.
Thanks, I’m barely aware of the concept. I more than likely learned of it from a movie (rather than from [no] classical studies). I just assumed that “Elysian Fields” OR “Elysian Plains” were WITHIN “Elysium” itself but apparently wasn’t THE 17th c. English translation of the “Aeneid”.
Garden of Eden a mythological place. Oh, no you didn’t 🙂
I wondered if that would get a reaction from anyone. Thanks for spotting it and the smiling emoji.
If Scott wraps up the week as winner, does have to wait until the new season before collecting his winnings?
That would be my question as well. If, at the end of a season, the current champ has enough winnings to qualify for the ToC for the current year, but would have to wait for a year and face all possible uncertainties of life if they win on Friday, there could be enough incentive to throw the last game. That should not be happening.
I imagine someone will answer who KNOWS, but I would think that the “current champion”, regardless of one day or more (or many more) will be paid as soon as their last recorded episode has aired.
Also, as I understand it, daily episodes for the new season will begin “taping” in early August, so that doesn’t seem like enough of a risk (of never getting to enjoy your winnings yourself) to consider throwing the last game of the season to get your hands on the money. I imagine that there is some kind of player contract in the first place and it may have a beneficiary clause, but also once the last episode of the season airs (and maybe even as soon as the million dollar threshold episode airs) one should be able to use that to “guarantee” a bank loan if one is in a hurry to spend the winnings, right?
As I understand, at the end of each episode, the receipts verifying dollar amount winnings are signed by each player, and checks are issued for each win. You win 13 games, you will get 13 checks. Accounting dept. usually sends them in 30-45 days.
The name of the song is ” Goodbye” Yellow Brick Road. Not ” Yellow Brick Road”
The clue didn’t say it was asking for the title of the song. In fact, it was asking for the road itself.
The Site Comment Policy explicitly reminds readers that if you think the show has made such a glaring error that you probably need to read the clue better.
No, not a typo, Lisa. They would have had to accept Elysium Plains as they are both alternative names for the Elysian Fields, the concept in Greek mythology referring to a paradise within the Underworld where the blessed souls of heroes and virtuous individuals reside. The terms are interchangeable and refer to the same idyllic location. I don’t see how they could not have accepted it since it is a correct response.
Oops! Meant this as a reply to Lisa’s comment above but, somehow, it wound up as a separate comment. Now, it’s here twice; sorry about that, folks.
At some point during S38 and the superchamp boom, someone commented something along the lines of “imagine how many great champions we never got to see because something didn’t quite go their way in their first game”, and I think about that pretty often. But the reverse is also true – whether it’s Julia Collins getting the last clue played to jump into a slight lead on a triple-get Final, Matt Amodio leading going into Final by the exact value of the last clue played that Josh Saak negged on, Cris Pannullo having a runaway margin that’s less than the amount of money a challenger left on the table on DD3, or even Ken himself getting “Who is Jones?” accepted for Marion Jones, there’s always at least one major factor in game 1 that leads to an all-time great streak.
And it’s the same for Scott – as he continues with his incredible run, putting up three Coryats above $30,000 in a six-game span in the process (and for those who may be interested, before Scott accomplished it last Thursday, a single-game Coryat of $36,000 was only accomplished 20 times in the 41-year history of the show), it may be hard to remember, but he nearly lost his first game! Had Jason Singer known about Yellowjackets, Scott would’ve simply been a one-and-done, albeit with strong enough stats that I think a Second Chance invite would’ve been likely. But Jason responded Lost instead – and that proved to be the first building block of what would be an amazing (and possibly still ongoing?) run.
As of tonight, Scott is now tied with Matt Jackson and Ray Lalonde at 13 wins each, and could very well break into the Top 10 in regular-play winnings (and the Leaderboard of Legends on the official show website) if he wins tomorrow in a similar fashion to how he won today… but even if he doesn’t, his run has still been incredible to watch and keep track of, and I very much look forward to seeing him in the next ToC!
Hey MasterDoge!
Thanks once again for the thoughtful analysis and comments.
Rick
Another day and another dominant win by Scott! Way to go!!!
Can he make it 14 tomorrow? What is we’ll have to wait and see?
🙂
Mythology is totally not my strong suit, and I don’t know if I’ve even heard the term “Elysian Plains” (“Elysian Fields” I have heard of) before today. But that’s what I guessed. And I was right. Never would’ve seen that coming.
when was the last time we had a champ win more than 10 games? more than 12 games?
I believe Adriana Harmeyer when she recently won 15 in a row.